Jack Barnewall has tonight won his first WA Street Stock Title in thrilling fashion at the Make Smoking History Collie Speedway.

Barnewall held off pole sitter Jamie Oldfield in a race that came right down to the wire, the duo split by just 0.066 seconds as they crossed the line.

The thirty five lap feature race had plenty of drama, with Oldfield and fellow front row starter Peter Herbert fighting hard from the drop of the green flag.

Herbert took the lead early from Oldfield with defending State Champion Hayden Norman working the highline from position eight to be quickly into fifth behind Barnewall and Jace Kempton.

Herbert led the opening two laps but he started bellowing smoke on lap three as Oldfield passed him, with Kempton also making his way by into second.

One lap later Barnewall also passed Herbert as did Norman, with Herbert then pulling up onto the highline and slowing.

All of a sudden Herbert picked up the pace again but up front the top four were away from the rest of the field, Norman making the moves on Kempton to grab third on lap six, while Herbert finally retired with power steering issues. A number of cars came together in turn two with six laps complete, including Bradley Roberts, Damon Thomson and Warren Oldfield to bring out the yellows for the first time. Thomson would be the only one unable to rejoin the field.

The restart saw Oldfield lead away Barnewall, Norman and Kempton with local Collie drivers Paul Joss and Paul Briggs fighting it out for fifth.

The top three quickly pulled away from the field, with Barnewall nearly letting Norman through on lap nine, then shortly after Kempton going high and allowing Joss through for fourth.

From here the front few cars began to spread out a little but behind them Damien Amato was starting to pass a few cars, moving into seventh on lap thirteen after starting twelfth.

Evan Wakefield retired infield on lap thirteen and shortly after Norman came to a stop against turn two wall, with steering issues, ending his title defense with fourteen complete while running third and earlier setting the fastest lap of the race.

Oldfield led away Barnewall and Joss, with the yellows out again shortly after as Daniel Ameduri seemed to blow a tyre which went under the car, seeing Ameduri jump into the air and come to a stop on the main straight.

This left fifteen cars to resume for the final nineteen laps, with Oldfield catching the field napping and very quickly moving away from Barnewall as the race went green once again.

Barnewall set about pegging back the gap, with third placed Joss also working to do the same. Barnewall pulled alongside Oldfield on the back straight on lap nineteen and made the move stick, leading the lap, but Oldfield was not giving up without a fight, running back underneath but unable to make the move stick.

Oldfield continued to harass Barnewall but was unable to do anything about it, with Joss lurking right on Oldfields bumper also looking for a way through while Paul Briggs was a lonely fourth.

Damien Amato bested a big pack of cars to move into fifth place but all eyes were on the front of the field as Oldfield continued to look for a way past Barnewall. Warren Oldfield was also working his way through and slotted into sixth behind Amato after starting fifteenth.
Lapped traffic finally came into play on lap twenty eight, the top three nose to tail with seven laps remaining.

With five to go Barnewall and Oldfield pulled away slightly from Joss, lapped traffic then playing its part as Oldfield was able to get under Barnewall but could not quite get through.

Again the gap between the top three was lessened, fighting nose to tail and then as the white flag flew, Oldfield stepped it up a notch and pulled alongside Barenwall going out of turn one. The two touched, Oldfield riding the back straight wall but he was not to let a little thing like that stop him, Oldfield drawing back alongside Barnewall through turn three. He then ducked underneath Barnewall in turn four, the two cars side by side across the line, Barnewall just getting the nod by 0.066 seconds, the smallest margin in WA Street Stock Title history since electronic timing was introduced.

Paul Joss was third home, followed by Paul Briggs, with Warren Oldfield getting into fifth place as the chequers flew. Fifteen of the original twenty cars would finish the race in what was an epic battle all the way through the field.


A Main, 35 laps: 1. W51 Jamie Oldfield, 2. W144 Peter Herbert, 3. W16 Jack Barnewall, 4. W55 Jace Kempton, 5. W39 Zane Humphrys, 6. W69 Paul Joss, 7. W12 Paul Briggs, 8. WA1 Hayden Norman, 9. V129 Corey Sandow, 10. W25 Bradley Roberts, 11. W10 Damon Thomson, 12. W82 Damien Amato, 13. W15 Wayne Thomson, 14. W26 David Padmore, 15. W85 Warren Oldfield, 16. W71 Josh Martinelli, 17. W4 Ethan Genev, 18. W21 Evan Wakefield, 19. W183 Daniel Ameduri, 20. W109 Glenn Vanzetti.
RESULT
1. W16 Jack Barnewall, 2. W51 Jamie Oldfield, 3. W69 Paul Joss, 4. W12 Paul Briggs, 5. W85 Warren Oldfield, 6. W82 Damien Amato, 7. V129 Corey Sandow, 8. W4 Ethan Genev, 9. W26 David Padmore, 10. W55 Jace Kempton, 11. W71 Josh Martinelli, 12. W39 Zane Humphrys, 13. W109 Glenn Vanzetti (34), 14. W15 Wayne Thomson (33), 15. W25 Bradley Roberts (33). DNF: W183 Daniel Ameduri (15), WA1 Hayden Norman (14), W21 Evan Wakefield (13), W10 Damon Thomson (6), W144 Peter Herbert (5). Total Time: No Time. Winning Margin: 0.066. Fastest Lap: 20.821 WA1 Hayden Norman.

Details courtesy of Scott Beattie